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Beyoncé is offering a rare, deeply personal look inside the creative engine behind her record-shattering Cowboy Carter Tour—ranked by Pollstar as the highest grossing North America Tour for 2025.
Asked how the ambitious tour was conceived, strategized and executed on such a massive scale, Beyoncé points not to spectacle alone, but to purpose.
“I can’t explain the reward I feel in conceiving these ideas to watching them come true,” she says. “This was born from my love and respect for the rich country genre.”
At its core, the tour is both a celebration and a reclamation. Beyoncé says she spent years focused on “preserving and celebrating the lost history of the Black cowboy,” while also reflecting on modern themes—propaganda, digital chaos, and what she calls the internet’s resemblance to “the Wild Wild West.”
Visually, the show is rooted in her Texas upbringing. A salon set honors her mother’s hair salon where she grew up; a saloon pays tribute to her great-grandfather, who sold moonshine in Alabama. Influences range from the Texas Lone Star and the art town of Marfa to a fusion of RENAISSANCE futurism and the “golden maximalism” of COWBOY CARTER. The result, she says, is a contemporary Houston Rodeo experience layered with classic theater and opera.
“The overall intention for this tour was to celebrate American resiliency,” Beyoncé explains.
That vision required relentless precision. Beyoncé describes the stage as “a piece of art” and the show itself as “a living, breathing, evolving organism.” She is famously hands-on—reworking arrangements, choreography, visuals, props and camera angles until every element carries emotional weight.
One of the tour’s guiding missions: bending light.
“I geek out on exciting new light fixtures and new ways to rig cameras,” she says. “I want everyone to have a front row seat. I want the audience to have a cinematic experience live.”
That attention to detail was put to the test in Houston, when Beyoncé’s flying red Cadillac Eldorado malfunctioned mid-air during “16 Carriages.” She continued the performance without injury, a moment that underscored both the risk and resilience built into the show.
Despite the scale—1.6 million fans across the tour, including six nights at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium—Beyoncé says the work never stops. She watches every show, fine-tuning notes until the final performance.
“The beautiful thing is when everything clicks,” she says. “All departments are connected, the show becomes a magical exchange of energy.”
Reflecting on her journey, Beyoncé credits consistency over shortcuts. She began touring at 15, traveling in minivans, changing costumes in muddy tents, designing her own clothes when designers wouldn’t, and reinvesting every dollar back into her shows.
“I’ve slowly built my legacy brick by brick,” she says. “Nobody invests in you like you invest in yourself.”
Now, she sees Cowboy Carter as more than a tour—it’s a cultural shift. Beyoncé believes its impact on country music will only grow, opening doors for a new generation of artists to be respected across genres.
“In ten years,” she says, “the young girls and boys who saw the show will believe they can be country stars and sing whatever music they love. That makes me proud.”
English (US) ·